


2nd Scent: Ikkuze, Aibou! (Let's go, partner!)

by Windryder1



Series: How to Train Your Animal Demon [2]
Category: Persona 4
Genre: Friendship, Other, Shrinking, Soul Bond, Yôkai, cat/human hybrid, fox/human hybrid
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-16
Updated: 2015-04-16
Packaged: 2018-03-23 04:38:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,256
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3754843
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Windryder1/pseuds/Windryder1
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The little fox-boy senses something isn't right with his friend.</p>
            </blockquote>





	2nd Scent: Ikkuze, Aibou! (Let's go, partner!)

2nd SCENT: IKKUZE, AIBOU! (Let's go, partner!)

\----The next night...----

It was raining again. 

Yu had been sitting at the desk in his room for an hour finishing up his homework. His companion had occupied himself with the legos Chie had brought over the day before. That, at least, kept the paper crane count to a minimum. 

Yosuke brought him the yellow ball. Yu absently tossed it across the room, then went back to tapping his pencil against the paper. Seconds later, the fox-boy's yip for attention snared his. He was holding the toy out to him once more. 

“Not now. I have to finish this assignment.” he muttered and tossed the ball across the room. 

Yosuke watched it roll by him, heaved a small sigh –like he was upset that the human wasn't getting the point--, and jogged to pick it up. He walked back over and tugged on his human's pant leg. Irritated, Yu roughly set down the pencil. “I said not now.” He threw the ball away, though this time Yosuke didn't move. 

The ball bounced off the back wall and rolled lazily to the middle of the room. The little fox scrunched up his nose in disapproval, walked over to pick it up, and looked up at his Human. His tail flicked and his ears drooped as Yu went back to his studies. He didn't like the way the others body slumped wearily over the desk. It was too heavy for his normal studying posture. His ears turned forward, detecting a very soft cough hidden within a breath. He sniffed the air. Something wasn't quite right with his Human. 

The tall teenager pressed his fingers to his head and rested his left elbow on the surface to block the desklamp light. He couldn't think clearly. The literature homework bled into one incomprehensible blur that made his head hurt. It wasn't so much that the work was difficult, he just couldn't focus. He worried his face in both palms.

Yosuke glanced to the ball in his hands, then to Yu, and ran for the couch.

The ball rolled across his homework and bumped into his elbow. “Yosuke, please just--” Before he could finish his command, the others pointed gaze caught his. 

The fox stood at the edge of the book. He wasn't smiling, or wagging his tail in anticipation of having fun. He looked from the ball, to his tired face, then back, and yipped. “Yu.”

Yu picked up the ball loosely in his left hand. “You didn't bring me this because you wanted to play, did you.” 

The fox shook his head from side to side. The short trill-chatter he'd sometimes use to convey emotion came out at a more muted softness, and this time slopped up at the end like a question. 

Yu realized this little guy had brought him his favorite toy thinking it would bring happiness to anyone who played with it. If he enjoyed it so much, he must have thought Yu would enjoy it, too. He pressed his right hand over the fox's ears, smoothing them down. “Thanks.”

Yosuke recalled the vocabulary he'd learned over the past two days. It was the only way to clearly communicate. Humans didn't register sounds the same way he did. “Hurt? Sad?” 

He shook his head, not feeling either of those things. He was just incredibly tired. “I'm fine.” 

“Play?” 

He smirked. “That won't help. But good try, Yosuke.” He put the little fox-boy on the floor and gave him back his precious ball. “Go watch t.v. I'm almost done.” 

Yosuke's ears turned forward in curiosity. Yu's hand had felt incredibly warm, and the ball was far warmer than it normally should be after being handled. That didn't make him feel better at all. It just wasn't right. 

He sighed, dropped the ball, and jumped up onto the couch where the remote rested on a cushion. The show that blinked to life on the screen when he pushed the power button was one he'd never seen before. 

Motion to his right let him know his friend had finally abandoned his desk to join him. Fortunately, it was a commercial break. Yosuke crawled up to sit on his knee and pointed at the screen. “What?”

Yu blinked tired eyes. He'd been listening to the banter on the t.v for the past ten minutes. “It's a series called 'Aibou.' It's about a special missions section of the police force that solve the worst cases out there. Those guys and their partners work together on everything.” He spoke in a long, drawn out yawn. “I haven't seen this in a while, but I think this is the 10th or 11th season. My dad loves it.”

Yosuke blinked, though returned his attention to the television when the show returned. He grinned broadly at one sentence and repeated it because it sounded fun. “Let's go, Partner!”

Yu leaned his head back on the couch and closed his eyes. He could afford to let the little guy watch this episode before calling it a night. It was only 8pm. Mrs. Hanamura had said she'd call when the managerial meeting at Junes was over and let him know what time he could come over tomorrow. She'd asked him to tell her everything that happened, regardless of how insignificant it might be, so she could log it in to her info book on young animal demons. He fell heavily into to the show's dialogue and sound effects through a blanket of fatigue. The phone would surely wake him up if he fell asleep, plus it was on his desk, so he would have to get up to answer it. 

A very light cough pulled Yosuke's ears back again. He looked up at the underside of the others chin, and his ears drooped from the lingering sense that something wasn't right. Maybe he could get a better idea of what was wrong if he could just figure out how to ask him. Being small made it easier to walk across the back of the couch, though when he left his spot to do so, Yu slid sideways onto the soft cushions. He tried to tell him to wake up, but wasn't given much in the way of a response besides another cough. Yosuke had never heard him make that sound before, and he didn't like it. If he woke him up, maybe he could get him to stop. He climbed over the others legs and walked along the edge of the cushions up to where both of Yu's arms draped over the side. 

“Yu,” he tried, pushing on his side. “Yu.” 

Something was definitely wrong. The little fox could sense it. Even if the phone did ring, he was pretty sure no one would answer it. Yu wasn't even responding to his own name, and Yosuke didn't know how to work the phone. 

He nosed his way under his Human's arm and curled up. He wasn't tired, so he stayed awake, lying on his side under Yu's arm, using his other arm as a pillow, and watched the next episode of a marathon. Yu coughed again, though wasn't able to hide it since he was asleep. The little fox demon whined at being helpless. Even if he couldn't do anything, he would at least be here when his friend woke up. 

“Yu,” The small fox demon shifted to look up at his bonded, who's eyes were closed, then back to watching the detective show, and settled in. “Aibou.”


End file.
